Closet Gamer
by MistyLuck
Summary: Naostugu had it wrong. Shiroe isn't a closet pervert, but he is a closet gamer by the name of Ootori Kyouya. Very, very short drabble about the person behind the computer, because those two are a bit too similar for it to be a coincidence. Pre-Apocalypse
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I don't own either of these two franchises, OHSHC and Log Horizon belong to their respective owners.**

**Seriously though, I just finished marathoning Log Horizon and Kyouya and Shiroue are just a bit too similar. Dark-haired, glasses-wearing people described as being demons in human skin? That are both fantastically smart and like to control everything from the shadows? I can totally see Kyouya secretly being a gamer and staying up all night playing, thus this was born. **

Kyouya had no idea when exactly he involved himself with MMORPGs. Before Tamaki had entered his life, he'd always been a bit of a loner. It was natural for the other students at Ouran to only pay the barest amount of attention to him – he was the third in line to inherit, after all. Logically, he knew it was a waste of his time and that he didn't have any room in his schedule for such frivolous activities, yet somehow the games annoyingly managed to worm their way into his life. It was an addiction, the cases were well documented and hard to miss, but if he, Ootori Kyouya, sought help to get away from a hobby, albeit an addictive one, it would mean it had defeated him. But this wasn't any MMORPG; it was Elder Tale, easily the biggest game franchise worldwide.

Perhaps it wasn't the addictiveness so much as the fact that, after a few years in that alternate world other characters had begun to approach him for advice. It had been a rather foreign concept at the time, to be sure. Nobody had ever approached him, except to try and get closer to the Ootori line. Those people had been quickly, though politely, rebuffed. Unless they had useful connections themselves, but those particular heirs were few and far between since they had no need for his name to be important. However, this time the people approaching him had been doing it out of a genuine acknowledgement of his skills, rather than the name he was born with. It had been a breath of fresh air, and Kyouya realized that he liked helping people, giving out his expertise, and receiving the other adventurers thanks in return. Had it been real life, he might have attempted to extract a price, but this was virtual, and nothing was lost in the exchange.

The Host Club had certainly limited his time for this covert activity, but the addictiveness would often see him coming back for another round in the middle of the night. If he happened to be a bit crabby in the morning, it certainly wasn't his fault, and the draw had only grown when he found himself ensconced between two sets of friends. The Host Club, which he found himself drawn steadily closer to on an increasingly emotional level, and the Debauchery Tea Party, compromised of his online friends, the people that hadn't befriended his name before him. It would have been honestly difficult to say which he was closer to, for both sets of people were so different yet so eerily similar. Either way, Kyouya had carved out his own niche within both worlds, and found himself comfortable there. He wasn't completely tied to any of them, yet they were all still close enough that he could rely on any one of them for support had he truly needed it.

Soon change was ushered in with graduation, and, with the Tea Party's breakup, Kyouya began spending less time online and more on his studies. Sure, he would squeeze a small bit of time in every once in a while, in between studies and business meetings. After a few years of his rather vigorous schedule, and with his college education coming to a close, Kyouya found that he'd managed to fall into a routine. While his future was little more assured than it had been before he had ever met Tamaki and the rest of the Host Club, despite his father recognizing his ability, he was certainly more comfortable with the way his life was going. The Elder Tale was set aside as a way to relax every week, and he became a regular visitor once running across those twins, Minori and Tohya, and had offered to be their teacher. It was going to be hard work, but then, when hadn't it been?

Setting aside the last of the paperwork he had to do that night on his work desk, Kyouya sighed quietly, stretching his arms above his head before clambering out of the chair. It had been a long day, and he was ready to unwind for a while. Unconsciously, he headed straight for the computer on his other desk. A little bit of adventuring was in order before he resigned himself to bed. It was only right, for he'd promised the twins he would be there, and they would certainly have been waiting on him. The fact that he was an enchanter and only partially capable of training them, unlike other players in their own classes, didn't seem to bother them in the slightest, and for the next hour and a half he spent in a mixture of training and practice for the two. Not that he minded, helping those two had always been rather fun, especially when Tohya would fire himself up for whatever they were going over and Minori would be taking diligent notes. He could easily imagine both having their teachers doting on them in real life, so it was no stretch of the imagination for even he, Kyouya, to become attached after so short a time.

Just as he was about to sign off, Kyouya noticed a small notice on his screen announcing that the servers would be down for a few days because a new expansion pact, the Novasphere Pioneers Expansion Pack, was going to be installed. He could hardly keep the grin off of his face at the news.

"Sounds fun."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer- No, I still don't own either Ouran High School Host Club or Log Horizon, though I can certainly dream. **

**A/N I realized that I hadn't marked this as complete when dear Firo Zero Claw began following this story, and, because this crossover was still fresh on my mind I decided to make it a two part drabble. Honestly, the only things that are keeping Kyouya from actually being Shiroe is the fact that Shiroe can't dance... but then again we never see Kyouya dance either, if I remember correctly...**

Huffing softly in frustration, Kyouya pulled himself away from the Elder Tale log in screen. For the second day in a row the site was down. The Novasphere Expansion Pack must be huge. There were rumors of the Gaia Project being put into effect, but surely they weren't trying to do that all at once… For a moment, he contemplated contacting the company that ran Elder Tale and giving them an incentive to update the game faster.

Addict, he reminded himself. And he was. The meeting with his father scheduled in just three hours was much more important that a game, yet the game was uncomprehendingly taking priority in his mind. Perhaps it was simply anticipation for the expansion. Yes, that was it. Anticipation. And addiction, he added silently.

Extracting himself from his computer, Kyouya went to his other desk to go over his notes. This was going to be an important deal, if he could get his father to agree, and it would give him much more control over the Ootori companies. In a behind the scenes fashion, of course. Even so, as he rehearsed precisely how the meeting was going to proceed, and what he planned to say to convince his father, Kyouya found his mind wandering back to Elder Tale. He wondered if the Gaia Project was successful. The producers had said so, but would it actually be an earth half the size of the original, or just a close approximation? The only way to know would be to explore it himself.

Perhaps Tohya and Minori would want to come along? If they didn't, for they most likely had their own plans after he finished training them, he could always convince Naotsugu to accompany him, at the very least.

Soon, the meeting came and went. It had progressed as predicted, and Kyouya felt he had managed to impress his father with his preparation and ideas. He certainly felt his chest swell with pride at being successful. After careful negotiation, the Head of the Ootori had agreed to almost everything his son had proposed, but he had anticipated those plans wouldn't go through anyway, so it wasn't a big loss. There was always time to wear his father down, after all.

Immediately upon returning to his spacious apartment, Kyouya began to enact the changes agreed upon, transferring the appropriate money to new destinations, notifying those that had agreed to work with his plans that they had been successful and to proceed. He was acting like the head of a company, not a graduate student preparing to get out of college. It was good practice, and certainly gave him a feeling that he really was progressing towards his goal to succeed his father as the head of the Ootori companies.

Nearly two hours later, his work was done for the night and began to prepare for bed. However, the thought of the Elder Tale continued to nag at the back of his mind, and he made his way to the computer. It wouldn't hurt to check if the expansion had finished updating, after all. And it wasn't as if he had any pressing engagements for a while, so nobody would care if he stayed up later than usual.

That decided, he finished preparing for bed and then settled in front of the computer, his fingers automatically navigating him to the site without a second thought. Success! The log in screen was back, meaning they had finished updating the expansion. His long fingers stretched towards the keyboard, almost trembling with anticipation at the thought of being one of the first to explore the new world, when something rather funny happened. His vision was going gray.

Kyouya shook his head, trying to clear away the spots, but it only made everything worse. He stood from his seat, reeling slightly as his balance seemed to be out of equilibrium, and he wondered what was going on. Perhaps he ought to have just gone to bed. Suddenly, his vision began clearing and Kyouya sighed in relief, before immediately thinking he was hallucinating.

This wasn't his bedroom. And last he checked, it was nighttime in Japan. Yet here he was outside and in broad daylight. A deep breath brought with it scents of the greenery surrounding him, and he bent down, a little bit awkwardly since his body was slightly taller than he remembered it to be, to touch the mossy stone beneath his feet. It certainly felt real, that was for sure. Glancing around, he couldn't help but notice that his surroundings were awfully familiar, especially that tree in the square.

Elder Tale, he realized faintly. This is Elder Tale.

What in the world is happening?

**And cue the anime!**


End file.
